Catchment Water Monitoring

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) dictates a monitoring requirement for surface and ground water quantity, quality and ecological status.

Chelsea Technologies Group has addressed the challenge of monitoring of effluents in surface waters with the low cost BACTI-Wader & BACTI-Wader Pro which provide real-time, highly sensitive measurements for in situ indication of bacteria levels. The BACTI-Wader comprises a UviLux fluorometer and a Hawk handheld display and logging unit. CTG’s UviLux fluorometers detect UV fluorescence with industry-leading sensitivity and selectivity and have been optimised for minimal interference from water turbidity

The principle behind the measurement is the excitation of Tryptophan-like UV fluorescence, which is known to correlate with bacterial loading, and provides an output in Tryptophan concentration units. The use of fluorescence provides signal detection sensitivity far superior to optical absorption methods.

Applications include:

River pollution surveillance and investigative monitoring

Bathing water quality monitoring

Point source pollution surveys

Farm run-off detection and tracking

Assessment of bathing & shellfish waters

Groundwater quality monitoring

Combined Sewage Overflow (CSO) event detection

Faecal Indicator (FI) monitoring

Catchment Monitoring The BACTI-Wader sensors are effective tools for monitoring coastal waters to detect outflow events from waste water treatment works (such as Combined Sewage Overflows) and farm slurry. They have also been used to monitor river catchments against the EU Water Framework Directive. They have been deployed in permanent stations for surveillance and operational monitoring and as portable systems for investigative monitoring. These sensors have also been used in monitoring the requirements of both the EU Shellfish Waters Directive and Bathing Waters Directive.

What is Tryptophan?

Tryptophan is an essential amino acid in human diet and is the main component of protein fluorescence. It is associated with microbial activity, i.e. from sewage & faecal contamination of wastewaters. Published data over the past decade has clearly demonstrated a strong correlation between Tryptophan-like fluorescence and BOD.